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Staying Alive

Polyester suits. Platform shoes and mirro balls. The dance floor pulsates to the beat of Donna Summer's ''Love to Love You, Baby.'' Get the picture? Disco, one of the enduring legacies of 1970's pop culture. Toss in punk and progressive rock, and now, two decades later, all but the most dedicated partisans would agree that things were a bit of a mess back then. But wait a second. Punk is back; can disco redux be far behind? So much for the lessons of history.

Sandwiched between the peace-and-love 60's and the ''me decade'' 80's, the 70's have rightfully felt neglected. Now along comes VH1 PRESENTS THE 70's, a five-part documentary, shedding new light on that fascinating, if overlooked, decade. The series, which begins tomorrow - MONDAY-FRIDAY at 8 P.M. on VH1 - is the centerpiece of a weeklong retrospective during which VH1 will devote all of its airtime to the 70's.

A year in the making, it uses archival film along with interviews with performers and journalists - but no narrator - to examine the social and political forces that shaped popular culture during the 70's. It begins with the effect of current events (the Vietnam War, Watergate) on the music ( early punks, the Clash, the Sex Pistols) and ends with the rise to prominence of disco. (Studio 54, the Manhattan nightclub renowned for its celebrity patrons and velvet ropes, gets its 15 minutes.) In between, ''Vh1 Presents the 70's'' looks at the impact of the sexual revolution on the music of the day (Joni Mitchell, David Bowie) as well as the creation of the rock-and-roll industry.